Constructed as a branch of Salinas Valley Savings & Loan, this bank was designed by the architects Melvin Rojko, Wenceslaus Sarmiento, and Thomas Ecoff for the Bank Building Corporation of America. The building is a variation on an earlier Sarmiento-designed bank for Newport Balboa Savings & Loan, located in Newport Beach, California (1954). In the 1950s and 1960s, the Bank Building Corporation of America set a new standard for modern commercial bank design in the United States. With Sarmiento as Director of Design from 1954 to 1964, the company’s cutting-edge buildings received critical acclaim. The former Salinas Valley Savings & Loan in San Jose is an excellent local example of the work of Bank Building Corporation.

Originally a two-story building, the Salinas Valley Savings & Loan features a butterfly-shaped roofline, with visibility into the interior via a glass curtain wall. A colorful mosaic sign, with the letters “S V S L,” designed by the artist Edith Hamlin, faces the street. There is a sister branch building, with the same architectural design, located in Salinas, California.

Photo #2: Professional black and white image – please credit photographer Arnold Del Carlo, Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History

Photo #3: Mosaic detail; photographer – Heather David

Incorporation of modern design principles including use of an open floor plan, taking advantage of natural light though wide expanses of glass, and use of innovative building materials. In addition, elements of effective roadside advertising through the incorporation of signage and access to interior view from street.

In conceiving of his design for the Newport bank, Sarmiento is said to have envisioned a sea bird, returning home from flight.

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